Success Requires Humans

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In our quest for better technology, we forget that success is based on humans.

Consider the following …

Humans approve and implement changes, resolve incidents, validate the CMDB, fulfill requests, track hardware assets, ensure software entitlements match usage, and provide governance.

Humans are also the ones impacted by all these process activities.

In a world focused on everything else, let’s remember that these people determine success.

Their individual and collective experience impacts success.

Why No Discussion on Release Management?

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I have noticed less and less talk about Release Management and Deployment Management over the years.

I think part of the reason is it gets lumped into CI/CD. But, even CI/CD follows a Deployment process.

Both, Release and Deployment, are important to get right.

ITIL4 separates them into separate practices while the previous ITIL versions had them together.

Release Management is now a Service Management practice while Deployment Management is a Technical Management practice. The reason for separating them is the same reason why Deployment is in Technical Management, so much (e.g., CI/CD) is enabled via technology.

The reason we need to discuss these two more is two-fold:
1) Their success or failure impacts other practices/processes
2) Both, but especially Release, are performed with feedback from stakeholders and valuable for value co-creation.

Release integrates with Change, CMDB/Configuration, Knowledge, and much more.

Let me know if your organization needs to improve in Release Management or Deployment Management.

It Could Happen To You; Be Prepared

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The Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp outages were the topic of many conversations and LinkedIn posts yesterday.

There are three takeaways from the outage that every organization should learn from:

1. Most outages are from a change. Being a global organization, there is no best time, but Monday is always the worst day. A few months ago, Microsoft had two bad changes in as many weeks, impacting Outlook and Teams. It can happen to the biggest of organizations.

2. The cost of the outage could reach billions of dollars. It’s important to quantify the cost of the outage. Investing in better service management and continuity is cheaper and limits the threat and impact of such an outage.

3. Every organization that relies heavily on WhatsApp, Slack, etc for internal communications MUST include it in their Business Continuity program and testing.

Life Stressors

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It is rarely the WHAT that stresses us out.

It’s almost always the WHO.

Control the WHO in your life.

This simple principle is why many people leave organizations because of bad bosses and culture.

Force Multipliers

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In every walk of life, there are force multipliers that help normal things become extra effective.

In the world of technology, these are even more important.

In technology, we should be focused on capabilities that exponentially help stakeholders create outcomes. Stated differently, the technology we provide should help users and consumers do their respective jobs much better with that solution compared to a different one.

If not, there is no reason to implement said technology.

Think of the real-world example of high-speed internet. Sure, you can do things manually or with your phone. But, high-speed internet allows you to do simple tasks at a greater speed, thus, justifying the cost.

The same should be true for our technology services.

Focus on the things that create the greatest value.

Objective Metrics

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As a matter of practice, I love metrics and measuring how we are doing. It is great to put in an improvement initiative and see the results.

Metrics and measures, though, should be objective. I remember the old quote, “statistics do not lie, just the people who use them.” This is true with our metrics, too. They are manipulated to meet an agenda. We have all seen this up close.

As an industry, we do not talk enough about leading and lagging indicators. These are metrics that either give us an indication of what will happen or what has happened.

Today, I want to focus on leading indicators. As a leader, you should be trying to identify these and use them in your decision-making process.

Some examples of leading indicators are:
1). Opportunities/RFS/Project requests – > indicating the future business needs and outcomes. Should use to align resources.
2). New Assets/CIs found through discovery -> indicating that the onboarding of Assets/CIs is not working
3). Number of Emergency Changes -> indicating something may be off with Change approval process, whether not assessing well or not approving fast enough that non-urgent Changes are now urgent.

Vendor Contracts

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One of the things rarely discussed in outsourced or multi-sourced environments, on either side of the table, is change.

Most outsourcing/multi-sourcing contracts are for 5 years.

Yet, the business needs change dramatically over two years, if not more frequently. Consider how much change we’ve had the past two years. Looking ahead, the rates of change are only picking up.

So, the measures, including penalties, are out of alignment for more than half the contract. They do not measure outcomes.

This leaves both sides unhappy: the business with unmet outcomes and the third-party partners, with IT stuck in the middle.

Service Management Leadership can help align these objectives and outcomes.

Focus on Outcomes

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In this multi-sourced, multi-partner environment we are in today, we need to focus on outcomes. The contracts, SLAs, and every communication has to be focused on outcomes.

The process must be identifying customer outcomes working backward toward the partners.

When we see poor experience, both from the consumers and employee point-of-view, it is usually due to the lack of alignment with outcomes.

The same is true for establishing an ITSM/ESM program, implementing an ITSM tool, implementing a CMDB, and everything else.

If your organization is not yielding the success you desire, contact Service Management Leadership to hear how we can help your organization.

Value Co-Creation

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The ITIL4 concept of value co-creation is novel and practical as it means that both the service provider and service consumer contribute to the creation of value.

As we think about this further, very few things are purchased without input from the consumer. When you have a house built, there is co-creation as each party provides feedback to help the outcome (house) be what each party desires.

This ITIL4 concept should further solidify the need for relationship-building between IT and the consumer. It also means that agreements with third-party partners need to be focused on delivering outcomes the consumer desires.

Back to Basics

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We are in a time when the basic fundamentals are overlooked and remain underappreciated.

People are anxious about all that is going on.

Companies are striving to show value via Digital Transformation. The focus is on innovation, not doing the current things better.

In a time when executing well is overlooked and underappreciated, I want to encourage you to focus on doing a great job (executing) and improving your skillset + capabilities.

Incremental improvement is like compound interest. It will grow and build off the previous improvement. This will yield much better results than trying to hit home runs.